He’s a legend in the world of heavy metal – and the sky’s the limit for Iron Maiden star Bruce Dickinson who is set for take off with his own airline.

The rocker last year launched Cardiff Aviation – his commercial airline maintenance operation at St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Now, the singer, who has his own airline pilot’s licence, is ready for clearance with his new venture – after being in discussions with the Civil Aviation Authority about setting up his own airline.

“Subject to approvals, we’ll be in the air within the next 50 days,” said the performer, who is currently on a 36-date world tour with his iconic rock group. “Clearly that fits with the maintenance – both operations need each other.”

Dickinson, whose personal wealth is estimated at more than £66m, said his plan for the airline was to get his airline business off the ground with three private jets, moving on to regional jets, before taking flight with larger passenger aircraft.

The 54-year-old plans to rebuild the former Icelandic-owned charter airline Astraeus for whom he was a pilot, before it went bust in 2011.

“The next stage is rebuilding Astraeus, but with proper governance,” he said. “The market is ripe for an outsourcing airline that provides extra capacity.

“We want to provide British jobs, British pilots and British-operated aircraft.”

Dickinson’s group have their own Boeing 757, Ed Force One – whose tail livery features their famous monster mascot Eddie, and had Cardiff Aviation been granted its own airline licence Dickinson would have been flying the group, which has sold 85 million records worldwide, to dates in 30 different countries where they will play to a estimated 1.5m fans.

Th aircraft plays a major role in the award-winning documentary Iron Maiden: Flight 666, which was released in cinemas in 42 countries in April 2009. When not in use by the group it was used for normal charter service retaining the original Iron Maiden artwork, however the decals had to be removed after passengers in Africa refused to board the plane, claiming it to be possessed by evil spirits!

“The reason I do all the things I do now is because I love them,” said Dickinson, of his multi-faceted lifestyle. “Life is too short to do the things you don’t love doing. If your only arbiter of anything is money, really you should… go and rob banks.”

Bruce Dickinson in action for Iron Maiden

Cardiff Aviation currently employs 70 people at its HQ dubbed Twin Peaks at the former RAF base, which has a 6000ft runway and is situated three miles from Cardiff International Airport.

It’s estimated that the multi-million-pound aviation project could create as many as 1,500 high-skill jobs over the next two years.

The Welsh Government has supported the start-up venture, not through direct financial assistance, but with a commitment to provide skills and training support.

As well as maintenance of airliners and other large aircraft for several major and independent airlines, Cardiff Aviation have facilities to complete the full range of ancillary aircraft maintenance and training activities.

“We’ve had fantastic support from the Welsh Government,” explained Dickinson. “We’ve been impressed by how proactive they’ve been; they’ve really wanted to make this happen.”

The Iron Maiden 2011 tour aircraft

In addition to the aeronautical and music industries, the rock star is also branching out into brewing, as Iron Maiden this week launch their own beer.

Named Trooper after one of the band’s most famous songs Dickinson spent six weeks tasting at the Robinsons Brewery in Stockport until he was happy with the flavour

The beer will be available in 10,000 pubs including JD Wetherspoon, Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns.

“I had no interest in a limited edition, slap-a-label-on-it beer,” said Dickinson, who believes in a fortnight 1m pints of the beer would have been sold. “It’s the fastest beer they’ve ever produced. I’m going to blow the doors off the brewery!”